Ring lapping / ring dressing

[Wevil Kenevil]

It's important to dress your piston rings, that is to say you should debur the edges of your rings using fine grit paper. Just drag it lightly on the paper until it's smoothed out but.be gentle!

They are pressed out of a sheet of metal and have a slight lip on them that will cause unnecessary wear on the inside of the cylinder.

I just bought a multi pack of rings for my Ld 100 and was noticing how sharp some of the edges were. It's almost indistinguishable when you put just a couple of them together but when you have them stacked you can definitely feel it.

If you don't believe me take a Jeweler's loop and look at it you'll see what I'm talking about.

I would suggest this for brand new motors bought in a pre-assembled package deal also because you know they just put those rings on there and didn't do nothing to them.

It will add years of life to your bike. Trust me.

 

[Wevil Kenevil]

And lacing your rings with super fine graphite also helps.

If you don't have any graphite you can take a metal file and file the lead if a pencil and use that too. Just make sure you don't use sandpaper because you don't want the grit to accidentally get into your graphite mix.

This packs all of the cracks and crevices on the piston ring with graphite which makes them slide smoother when they start against the brand new cylinder.

I also put a small poof into my gas mix not enough that you can see it but it's in there.

 

[Wevil Kenevil]

I know the application is a little bit different but the technology behind it is the same. Specifically note time frame 5 minutes 30 seconds.